Mononoke
by Aperio
Summary: Ashitaka stumbled to a halt before the guard.  His face was what, on any other man save the great warrior himself, Dori would have called panicked... Vignette open for adoption.


**A/N:** This is the result of a plot bunny that bit, and bit hard, when I watched Princess Mononoke. I didn't particularly enjoy that anime, so even when writing this I had no intention of turning it into the full scale story it threatened to become.

So, anyone and everyone who wants to steal this vignette and write something with it, please do and take it off my hands!

**.o0o.**

Dori saw Ashitaka running to the gateway. The man Gorihan had been talking to, gesticulating wildly, reappeared in the doorway as he came. Ashitaka stumbled to a halt before the guard. His face was what, on any other man save the great warrior himself, Dori would have called panicked.

"Please, let me through."

Gorihan appeared uncomfortable but determined.

"Lady Eboshi said that no one was to enter without her permission. I'd have to ask her permission and she is not to be disturbed while she works with the wolf-woman." Ashitaka cut him off with a slashing motion.

"I don't care! I will see her, Gorihan – let me through!" Thrusting past the guard, who made a great effort to stop him, Ashitaka was brought up short by a shaking hand on his shoulder.

"Please, Ashitaka… the woman…"

"What?"

"She- I was just in to check on her… She's dead."

The sudden silence, startling in its abrupt contrast to the previous noise, was broken only by a small, terrible cry. Dori numbly wondered that the great Ashitaka could make such an agonising noise. He stood, isolated in the middle of the crowd, lips slightly parted to cry out, but making no noise after that first heart-rending cry. Dori, wishing she could only comfort him, saw his blank stare past – through – the guard before him, as though he were suddenly far away. She saw his eyes fill with tears that ran down his cheeks. He made no motion to stop them.

Dori watched his mouth form and whisper a name, and wondered that the hero could cry over such a normal, though terrible, event. It was a revelation. For the first time, she realised Ashitaka was human.

Ashitaka finally drew a great, shuddering breath, swaying back as though he would fall. His eyes, gradually focusing, swung past to the door.

"Let me see her," he whispered, his voice rasping.

Gorihan looked more uncomfortable than ever.

"Lord Ashitaka, you know I can't do that. Our funerary laws state that no one can lay eyes on a person's face once they are dead. It is a desecration of their spirit!"

"Please!" The tears still flowed down his face. The hand he held outwards shook. "Please. As I speak to you, one man to another – let me see her again."

Gorihan shook his head slowly, the other guard sending him an uneasy look.

"I can't. I'm sorry."

Ashitaka seemed to have forgotten his great strength, his legendary speed. The unsteady step he took was backwards, not forward to thrust past their barrier as he did in the stories of his past. He murmured his plea one last time, but no one shifted to allow him entrance. His eyes were far away again.

"I'm very sorry for your loss, sir," Gorihan was saying. "My sincerest sympathies are with you. I would not intrude them on you at this moment, but I know how hard you work yourself under loss, I probably won't get another-"

"No."

Ashitaka's voice was almost firm again, only the great bleakness in his eyes giving him away. The crowd, silent spectators so far, murmured confusedly.

"L-lord Ashitaka?"

"No. If I cannot see her, then… then there is nothing else left to do. Yakult!"

The last word was a great cry, and the deer, never far from his human friend, was already running to him. Ashitaka seemed to hesitate a bare moment, his face crumpling. Then, he was astride the red-gold beast.

"Lord Ashitaka! You cannot leave now, this is your home!" Ashitaka turned halfway.

"No, Gorihan. I was forced to leave my home many years ago now. I became a wanderer. I stayed here and helped your people rebuild their homes to remain close to San. She is gone now, and there is no need for me to stay. I will wander again."

"Ashitaka, please!" The cry that overbore the loud protests of the crowd was a woman. Ashitaka hesitated again.

"I'm sorry. Perhaps I will return again some day, Toki."

And he was gone.

.o0o.

Dori knew that the people still gathered around the gate of Lady Eboshi's house grieved more for the loss of Ashitaka than that of the strange wolf-woman. She did herself. The stupid woman! If she hadn't gone and died, Ashitaka would still have been there, laughing and talking quietly with the people of Irontown.

She sat morosely against the wooden pylons, knees drawn up to her scowling face. Further down, she could see a group of women (and a few men) sobbing into each other's arms. Gorihan was arguing, again, with his subordinate. That man was stupid too. If he hadn't brought the news that the wolf princess was dead, if he could have just pretended she was still alive…

She scowled even harder as she caught a few sentences from their argument drifting in the wind, feeling somehow insulted that on top of all else, she had to bear listening to the _noise_ those people made.

"… didn't go quite the way… said it would, did…"

"How was I… own stupid fault…"

The words cut off abruptly as the wooden door swung open and Lady Eboshi appeared, wiping her hand on her skirt. The lady looked up incuriously, and Dori couldn't help feeling a _little_ affronted that Eboshi could eternally keep her cool, collected face no matter what had happened. She watched the town's leader look around the collective faces calmly.

"Is Ashitaka here?" She asked. Dori gaped. "I was a little surprised," Eboshi added, her voice sounding a bit aloof as though she disapproved, "that he hadn't come in. I would have come to look for him, but it is a little difficult to look after one ill woman and organise everything else when you only have one hand."

Eboshi looked from face to face, stunned expression to stunned expression

**.o0o.**

**So, yeah. Found this again while looking through my old stories and thought I might as well give it a chance to find a loving home...**

**I watched Mononoke ages back, and can't completely remember the details of the story this was to be from. All non-canon names were randomly made up as I was dashing words onto the page. They're nonsense syllables, in other words :D**

**Basically, it was told through the eyes of a young and immature girl from the town who had a major crush on Ashitaka. She believes the tales that have, since the events of the movie, grown and grown in Irontown until Ashitaka has become the no. 1 hero and favoured awesome celebrity, held in awe for the way he works (although he keeps running off into the forest, to the people's frustration). She also, as you may have picked up, has some major resentment against San for holding Ash's attention.**

**The above vignette occurs after San is critically injured somehow or other. The man guarding the door on Eboshi's orders against anyone else who may harm her takes advantage of the situation. He's not very bright, and knows the rumours of how Ash works his butt off when he's trying to forget his own problems. He's highly 'patriotic' and Irontown is still suffering and in need of strong leadership to rebuild it, so he figures he'll persuade Ashitaka to do this. Goodness knows what he's thinking or how he persuades the other guy so quickly. He may have had other motives. Possibly the removal of San from Ash's life?  
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**(Their conversation is something along the lines of 'Well, that didn't go quite the way you said it would, did it?'... 'How was I supposed to know he'd act like that about the stupid wolf woman? It's your own stupid fault for agreeing-')**

**San naturally doesn't take what she emotionally feels to be an abandonment of her by the one person she was gradually, step by step with every visit Ashitaka made, coming to trust. She disappears before fully recovered.**

**Dori hears the full story and heads off after Ashitaka, young head full of romantic nonsense about adventures out in the wild and Ashitaka's eternal gratitude and love (she thinks about as far ahead as the guard dude). She's a nice girl, but about as sensible and irritating as any other child with a crush. Parents' feelings are not thought of by her.**

**The story, however short, was intended to be an exploration of how Ashitaka and San reacted to each other, Ashitaka's emotions and gentleness towards San being overridden by his lack of drive when the times came to need it. San's distrustfulness at war with her instinctive hope in Ashitaka. Dori was the vessel for a more distanced look at this emotion for the reader, observing how they interact and her growing experience leading her to 'grow up' over the story. She comes to understand how you can't force a person's emotions, shouldn't manipulate them, and that kindness isn't love and isn't reserved for those you do love.**

**San might need that lesson too.**

**Anyway, that was my idea. Someone else might have a different one, but it should at least explain the elements that made it into my vignette :)**


End file.
